涸 (hé): to dry up

Meanings

久旱之后，河水涸了。

Jiǔhàn zhīhòu, hé shuǐ hé le.

After a long drought the river dried up.

雪中送炭犹如救涸辙之鱼。

Xuězhōngsòngtàn yóurú jiù hé zhé zhī yú.

Helping someone in desperate need is like saving a fish stranded in a dried-up rut.

usage

A literary word for water drying up, common in 干涸 ('to dry up') and the idiom 涸辙之鲋 ('a fish stranded in a dry rut'), meaning someone in dire straits.

radical

氵 shuǐ

water (radical form)

The three-drop water radical, the left-side form of 水. Fitting for a word about water vanishing, the same family as 河 and 湖.

phonetic

固 gù

solid; firm; phonetic

Solid, supplying the sound; gù shifts to hé. Its 'hardened, set' sense loosely echoes ground baking dry. Same phonetic in 锢.

涸 hé